


How to fall in love in three weeks

by mckinleysbitch



Category: Wet Hot American Summer (2001), Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (TV)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 06:59:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10381146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mckinleysbitch/pseuds/mckinleysbitch
Summary: Mckinley isn't good at feelings, and it leads him to fuck things up a little bit after overhearing a conversation that overwhelms him





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm very drunk and just finished rewatching the movie and the show i jsut love these two so much please criticize me

8:30 PM

Mckinley Dozen was walking on fucking air.

It wasn’t like that had been his first kiss, far from it, but there was something about Ben… maybe it was the fact that he wasn’t experienced, that Mckinley was the one to make him accept his sexuality. Ben was brand new, just figuring all this shit out, and there was a weird feeling of pride that went along with being the one to bring about a realization like that for someone. 

Whatever it was, he liked it, a lot. It was different than the other guys he’d hooked up with. There were a surprising number of closeted guys at this camp, and Mckinley had had his fair share of almost all of them for a day or two, but never really more than that. Ben was… something else entirely… almost like a challenge.

He smiled to himself at that thought as he redid his eye makeup backstage. He could feel that this was going to be a fun summer. An honest to goodness summer fling might be a good change of pace this time around. 

“I think I’m in love with him.”

Mckinley’s heart stopped, his head snapping up to see if he really had overheard that right… if the voice he heard was really connected to the person he knew it was. 

Shit. 

All of the blood rushed to Mckinley’s face as he sat there, staring down at his makeup, eyes wide, trying to breath normally. Could he have possibly heard that right? Love? What the fuck was that? How could Ben possibly know something like that? They’d kissed… what? Not even five minutes ago? And now he was in fucking love? He could feel his heart pounding. He was used to hookups and passing flings. Things that maybe lasted a night or two and were purely sexual. This was not something that he was equipped to deal with. Maybe if he just ignored it…

“Places!”

 

10:15 PM

It was fine.

Everything was going fine.

He was ignoring what he heard. It was probably just Ben trying to get Susie off his back anyways. They were going to the staff party together, and it was fine. It was fun. Summer romance was supposed to be fun, not stressful. He could just be at the party with all his friends and relax and drink and dance, and that’s exactly what he did. Granted, his dancing when he was drunk was always a little out there, but he could feel Ben’s eyes on him, which was a great feeling, and he kept himself distracted.

12:05 AM

Well, to say Mckinley had pretty much forgotten about the whole love thing by the end of the night would be an understatement. He’d almost forgotten about Ben entirely in the chaos, who had inexplicably disappeared when camp Tigerclaw showed up. He was completely exhausted when he finally landed in his bunk, falling asleep before he could over think the events of the day. This summer was gearing up to be a weird one, and he would just have to roll with the punches from here on out.

Week 3 - Wednesday - 4:05 PM

Things had been going well. The running club had a lot of kids in it this year, which made it more fun to lead, everyone was getting along relatively well since the first night craziness, and he and Ben were going strong. It was fun to have something consistent, to have someone who would sneak away in the middle of the day just to be with him. It was nice. 

Sneaking away was precisely what they were doing right now. Mckinley smiled when Ben came into the shed, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, cocking an eyebrow at the other. 

“Missed me?” He teased, laughing when Ben rolled his eyes and made his way over to him, “Oh don’t give me that. You know you d-” He was cut off by a kiss, which only made him smile, wrapping his arms around Ben’s waist, letting the other push him up against the wall. 

“Someone’s eager,” He breathed, moving to kiss down the other’s jaw. 

“Shut up.” Ben breathed, leaning his head back, letting Mckinley move farther down, leaving a hickey among the others fading across his neck. He pushed his hands up Ben’s shirt, pulling it off in one swift motion, following suit before returning his attention to trailing kisses across his body. They made their way onto the sleeping bag they kept in the shed and Mckinley let himself stop thinking, loving the noises Ben was making at his touch. They had a full hour and a half until dinner, and he loved to take his time.

“God I love you,” Ben breathed between kisses, running his fingers through Mckinley’s hair, his voice breathy and quiet, but loud enough for the other to hear.

Mckinley froze.

“What?” He said, sitting up, straddling Ben’s hips, “You what?” It was happening again. He could feel his face heating up and his heart pounding in his ears. This wasn’t… he wasn’t… Fuck.

Ben propped himself up on his elbows, searching the other boy’s face for what went wrong. “I… Sorry… Did i say something wrong?”

“How… I mean… How could you love me?” Summer romance was supposed to be fun, not stressful. If he just didn’t stress out… maybe it would go away. He probably just said it in the heat of the moment. Mckinley had certainly said some things when he was having sex with someone that weren’t exactly true. “You don’t mean that… do you? Like… Love… That’s like…” He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to calm every panicked reaction his body was having down.

“I…” He looked embarrassed, and Mckinley suddenly felt horrible for questioning him. “I mean… I think I meant it… should I not mean it?” 

“No! I mean… I don’t know how to answer that.” He had finally gotten his breathing to stop being so choppy and quick, and he ran a hand over his face. “I just… Love… That’s some serious shit Ben. This is supposed to just be like… fun. I dunno.” He looked down at his own hands, not wanting to see if he had hurt Ben with what he said. He could feel his stupid puppy dog eyes on him and he knew he wouldn’t be able to say anything more on the subject if he looked.

“Do you not um… I sort of thought this was like… real? I guess? Like you like me a lot and I like you a lot and we like hang out all the time and we’re like… intimate…” Ben bit his lip nervously, “You make me feel so good and I just think you’re so amazing, and i’ve never met anyone like you, even if you are a tease and kind of an asshole. I feel like I love you… I don’t feel like I’m wrong about that.”

“But how could you possibly know that?” Mckinley said, raising his voice a little more than he meant to. “Love isn’t just like… it’s not… You can’t just decide that since you like someone a lot you must be in love with them. Love is fucking hardcore shit and it’s serious and it’s fucking scary and you’ve only known me like three fucking weeks you know?” He was standing now, pacing as he rambled. “And you’re right, I’m a fucking asshole, and I’m a tease, and I’m a slut Ben. I’m not like some perfect prince that you can just fall in love with at first sight. Just because I’m the first dick you sucked doesn’t mean we’re fucking soul mates.” He was overwhelmed, and he could tell that what he was saying wasn’t exactly convincing Ben that he was right. He looked over at him, but Ben wouldn’t meet his eye and… well of course he fucked this up. “I’m not fucking used to this. I’ve never… I mean… I don’t know. I’m used to just having fun. Love. That’s so fucking serious.”

“Um… Ok. Ok well if that’s how you feel I guess I’m… wrong?” Mckinley could hear the tears Ben was holding back and he sighed, sitting down and running both hands over his face. “I just thought… I mean… I thought we had something more than just… fun.” He couldn’t look at the other, but he could see out of the corner of his eye that he was getting dressed again. He wasn’t going to stop him from leaving. He knew if Ben stayed here Mckinley would only end up saying more to upset him. Love. What a fucking scary word. He stared down at his hands as Ben walked out of the shed, trying to ignore the muffled crying noises as he walked away from the shed and back to the camp. 

5:30 PM

Mckinley was dreading dinner. 

By now, Ben had probably talked to at least Susie about what had happened, maybe Coop too, and he didn’t want to have to walk past the looks they would inevitably give him. He took a breath and walked into the dining hall, at least ten different pairs of eyes meeting his own in a glare. Ok, so maybe he told more than Susie and Coop. It seemed like every female counselor knew about the shit he’d pulled in the shed. He looked for Ben, finding him sitting with Susie, obviously avoiding his gaze as Susie shot him a death stare. So sitting with them for dinner was out. He ended up with JJ and Gary, who seemed to have noticed all the looks he was getting.

“Dude, what the fuck is everyone looking at you for?” JJ asked, raising his eyebrows at him across the table.

“None of your fuckin’ business gay gay.” He said, trying to lighten the mood, bring it back to the joking banter the three of them always got into. It didn’t quite work, and they both just gave him a look before spending the rest of dinner in relative silence. This was a fucking nightmare.

9:23 PM

Mckinley was sitting on the steps of his bunk just after lights out. He wasn’t about to go to sleep, but he couldn’t join the other counselors doing whatever they were doing because he couldn’t fucking stop thinking about Ben. Maybe he went a little far with his whole “love is scary” rant, but it fucking was! He knew he had to do something to make Ben feel better or the entire camp would turn against him but… he wasn’t sure what. Ben was the sweetest person in this whole place and everyone knew it. If he kept this shit up, there was no way in hell anyone here would be on Mckinley’s side of things. Not with those damn puppy dog eyes and that gorgeous smile on the other side of the argument. He really did like Ben. He was sweet, and he was funny in his own dorky way. He was, of course, gorgeous, and completely irresistible, and if he could help it, Mckinley would never take his fucking eyes off that boy, at least not for the five weeks they had left. 

He heard footsteps approaching and he looked up, his eyes meeting the big sad blue ones of Ben, staring back at him. He stood up, straightening his shirt and running his fingers through his hair.

“Hi…” He said hesitantly, chewing the inside of his lip, “Ben… I-” 

“I know.” 

Mckinley took a step closer to the other cautiously. “I’m sorry. I know you know but like… I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have freaked out like that. I just… It’s a lot, you know?” Ben sort of nodded in response and Mckinley sighed, walking over to him and reaching out to touch his hand. 

“So am I supposed to not feel the way I do because it scares you?” Ben’s voice was quiet, but there was anger behind it, and Mckinley pulled his hand away.

“No I just… That’s not what…”

“Mckinley.” This could not be good. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable with any part of this but… I’m not taking back what I said.” Mckinley didn’t say anything, just stared back at him, sort of at a loss. “I don’t have much experience with dating, and I certainly don’t have experience dating guys, but I do love you, as far as I know what love is. You’re sweet, you make me laugh more than anyone I know, you care a lot even though you pretend not to, and you make me feel better than I’ve ever felt before.” Ben took a deep breath, as if trying not to raise his voice, “You’re also an asshole, and a tease, I know that. You make gross jokes and you like to pretend like you don’t give a shit, but I love all that too. You’re so much more than just a fun summer fling to me, but if that’s not how you feel, then there’s not really anything I can do about that.” Ben was chewing his lip and looking to Mckinley for a response, but he couldn’t figure out a way to formulate his thoughts into something cohesive, so he just sort of looked back at him, like a deer in headlights. “Ok… well I guess… I guess see you around.” 

It took until Ben was turning to walk away for Mckinley to snap out of his trance. “Wait! Wait Ben hold on.” He reached out and grabbed his shoulder, turning him around. “I… I’m not good at this shit, you know? Being attached is not something I’m used to, but I guess if that’s what love is in your mind… I mean… I’m not going to question that.” He shrugged, “And, if that’s what love is then like… that would mean I love you too.” The words caught in his throat and he took a deep breath, his eyes searching Ben’s face for a reaction, anything to tell him if he was saying the right thing. His search was met with a kiss, deep and strong, and Mckinley was overwhelmed with relief. He felt something wet against his cheek and pulled away, only to see tears welling up in Ben’s eyes. 

“Oh jesus, please don’t cry. That was so fucking sappy it is not worth crying over.” He said, laughing a little, “That’s not me admitting anything you know.” He raised an eyebrow and shrugged “I’m just saying that, by your definition, technically that would mean I love you.”

“Oh shut up.” Ben rolled his eyes and smiled, “You know you love me.” 

“Your words, not mine,” He smirked, wrapping his arms around Ben’s waist and pulling him closer, “Does this count as an excuse to sneak you away and have my way with you?”

Ben laughed, throwing his arms around the other’s shoulders and kissing him again, “How could I say no to that?”


End file.
